Call for clear boundaries around Afghanistan embassy in Canberra

To describe the diplomatic hangover surrounding the Afghanistan embassy in Canberra as complex and “not viable in perpetuity”, as a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson did on Friday, is to state the obvious. Ambassador Wahidullah Waissi, as Amanda Hodge reported, is an appointee of the pro-Western government in Kabul ousted by the Taliban in August 2021.

Still in his post, he is a vocal critic of the obscurantist Islamist regime.

The embassy has been untethered from Kabul for four years. But with a skeleton staff it remains open and has continued to issue official documents (but not passports) needed by Australia’s 80,000-strong Afghan community, despite the Taliban announcing in July 2024 that Canberra was among 14 diplomatic missions whose documentation would not be recognised.

In line with a Taliban directive, however, as Hodge reported, Mr Waissi has now been warned that his Australian diplomatic credentials will not be renewed in February.

Given the reality of the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, it is hard to see an alternative for DFAT but to seek to rationalise the situation in relation to the embassy.

But in doing so it is imperative our government does not play into the hands of the regime in Kabul that is eagerly seeking diplomatic recognition beyond that from the five Taliban-supporting countries that have full diplomatic representation in the Afghan capital – China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

Reassuringly, the DFAT spokesperson insisted “Australia does not regard the Taliban as the legitimate representative of the people of Afghanistan and has no intention of accepting a Taliban-nominated diplomat”, presumably to succeed Mr Waissi.

Faced with a similar situation in London after the Taliban dismissed the Afghanistan embassy’s staff in September 2024, the mission officially closed. But the Afghanistan flag from before the fall of Kabul has continued to fly above the building, symbolising Britain’s emphatic policy of non-recognition of the Taliban.

However the complexities surrounding the Canberra mission are resolved, our government must be no less resolute in refusing to accord anything that may be construed as recognition of the monstrous, medieval regime. Those such as Afghanistan’s persecuted women deserve no less than full support as they confront the outrages of their Taliban oppressors.